The Promenade restaurant, located near the Post Office on Derry Street, is a good bet. As I gazed over the vast menu, I immediately focused on the daily specials section and was delighted to see that, once again, I hit paydirt.

I looked no further than the chicken corden bleu sandwich, which included the soup of my choice, for a mere $3.25. I was assured that the chicken noodle soup I was hungry for was both homemade and delicious — I was not disappointed. Large chunks of primarily white chicken meat, plenty of vegetables, and noodles refined the flavor, and I was pleased. I could have had chili con carne or beef macaroni soup, but I’ll save that for next time.

The chicken sandwich was good, but not as great as my companion’s pork BBQ sandwich, also served with soup for $3.25. The pork BBQ was amazing! The bun was stuffed with nice big chunks of fresh pork, and it tasted better than it looked, if that’s possible.

Café 214 is a cosmopolitan, café-style eatery. Everything I got of glimpse of looked fresh and wonderful! But since I could only eat one lunch in a day, I had to choose. They had a big selection of plates within my price range. I almost got the seafood lemon pepper pasta, but at the last minute, when push came to shove, I uttered the words — “Seafood Salad Sub” ($3.29).

This turned out to be an excellent choice! The sub came complete with chips and a pickle, and adding a fresh brewed iced tea, the grand total — $4.40!

My companion ordered the chicken salad over salad, which she said looked terrific. I managed to talk her into a taste, and I was equally impressed. She ordered a large cappucino for a meager 95¢ and gave it a 10 out of 10. Why such high praise? Because the cappucino stayed creamy throughout, not just within the token top-off. Her meal came under the wire as well at $4.44.